10 Most Paused Star Trek Moments
Which Star Trek scenes make you look twice?
In over fifty years of history, Star Trek has tonnes of moments that deserve closer inspection. How many of them warrant a freeze-frame or a zoom-in? Honestly, too many to count!
Like it or not, Trek has a canny mind for marketing. Old style costumes on modern players and hours in a chamber with castmates rubbing gel on each other. It isn't exactly pushing the boundaries of exploration, but it definitely makes for good TV.
They're not the only scenes that warrant a pause, even if they are some of the most fun. There are those gorgeous fleet shots, the tiny little details that flash up on screen, and even production mishaps that inspire a thorough 'wait, did I actually just see that?'. Oh, and there's also the occasional exploding head, while we're at it.
Freeze framing Trek can be an art in itself, but thankfully in this age of Reddit threads and HD stills, it's a lot easier now than having to slam the pause button on a VHS player and just hope the item in question was visible through the static. Here we have some of the clearest, most enjoyable moments from the franchise.
10. Great Bird Of The Galaxy
Star Trek: The Next Generation - Season 1, Episode 3
Gene Roddenberry, as we all well known, not only created Star Trek but was one of the main reasons for its early success. Less well known though is that this led to him getting the nickname 'The Great Bird of the Galaxy'. Even lesser well known than that is that he makes an appearance as this avian innovator in The Next Generation. Sort of.
In the episode The Naked Now - a remake/sequel to the Original Series' episode The Naked Time where everyone contracts a virus that makes them incredibly horny - Data is assigned to review some Starfleet records, where he comes across the image above. Here, Roddenberry's head is grafted to the body of a bird; an image designed by Michael Okuda and included as a joke.
The image is barely visible for a second on-screen and remains the only time that Roddenberry has appeared, in any form, in the franchise at all. The Star Trek Encyclopedia did contain an image of him in uniform, stating that he was Captain Robert April, the very first captain of the Starship Enterprise, though this never made it to screen.
The Great Bird of the Galaxy appears only once in this episode and it's a blink-and-you'll-miss-it moment.